Canada’s international development assistance for developing regions like sub-Saharan Africa received scant attention in the recent (2019) election. Under Justin Trudeau’s Liberals Canada’s commitment to international development has been much lower than many other Conservative governments around the world.
Canada is fortunate to have a considerable endowment of minerals and metals. Africa also holds 30 percent of the worlds mineral resources. But Africa, despite being so richly endowed, has drawn little benefit from this mineral wealth and remains one the poorest continents on the globe.
Canada’s mining industry, with its skilled and diverse workforce and leadership in corporate social responsibility, could assist mineral-rich African nations with addressing their lack of skilled workforce in this competitive industry.
Africa’s vast reserves of minerals are essential for global production and consumption. Nonetheless, the vast majority of resource-rich African countries have failed on the promise to foster both economic diversification and poverty reduction because of the continent’s political instability, regulatory incertitude, infrastructure weaknesses and shortages of skilled labour.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s out-of-school rate among upper secondary aged youth is the highest in the world at 58 percent, according to a UNESCO Institute of Statistics report.
For the rest of this article: https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/november-2019/canadas-mining-industry-in-africa-and-social-responsibility/